Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 975 The Poisonous Mushroom Incident (Only one chapter)
Only one chapter today. My daughter is still having diarrhea, but thankfully she stopped vomiting this afternoon. She had a checkup at the hospital, and luckily it wasn't viral; it was just a cold and eating something unclean. I should be able to resume updates tomorrow, hopefully.

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This time, Li Long drove his jeep to the backyard of the purchasing station, parked it on the side of the road to make room for the car hired by Jia Tianlong, and began to move fritillaria bulbs out of the warehouse.

The fritillaria bulbs were all labeled and categorized. Li Long first brought out three bags, totaling over two hundred kilograms of top-grade goods. He opened the bags, grabbed a handful of fritillaria bulbs, and examined them. Each one was laden with seeds and was very large. These were the fritillaria bulbs that Gu Boyuan had mentioned, ones that would easily qualify as top-grade.

Just like last year, some vendors selling fritillaria bulbs specialize in selling premium quality ones, which have all been carefully selected and screened. Li Long dares to directly price these fritillaria bulbs at 100 yuan per kilogram.

Thus, Li Long knew that Jia Tianlong could still make a profit, after all, the mother-of-pearl was just too beautiful.

Next came more than thirty bags of premium grade one fritillaria bulbs. These fritillaria bulbs were roughly the same size; some were already clean when they were harvested, while others were the result of later cleaning and sorting of Tillandsia bulbs.

The orchids were still being sorted, and she wanted to help Li Long carry the bags out, but Li Long quickly stopped her. He was joking, and he couldn't bring himself to ask a pregnant woman to help him with chores—washing was one thing, but carrying bags was hard work, and she would get tired and hurt herself.

Despite the large number of bags, Li Long quickly pulled them out and piled them together, one in each hand. Then he took out a large iron sieve and a scale, waiting for Jia Tianlong to come over.

There were still many bags in the warehouse, and some fritillaria bulbs drying outside. Li Long didn't let Tielanhua help, so she washed the fritillaria bulbs in the basin and took them out to dry on the sieve against the wall.

To prevent the iron sieve from staining the color of the fritillaria bulbs, Li Long specially bought a batch of gauze to cover them, and the fritillaria bulbs were dried on the gauze without affecting their color.

As the car engine started running, Tillandsia had already scooped all the fritillaria bulbs out of the basin, laid them out to dry on an iron sieve, poured out the dirty water, and then stood the basin against the wall before saying to Li Long, "Boss Li, I have to go back and cook now..."

"Alright, alright, you go ahead with your work," Li Long said. "It's okay, just do what you're supposed to do, don't worry about me."

It was almost one o'clock, and it was time to cook. According to Gu Boyuan, Tielanhua was a very conscientious person who did enough work each day; in other words, the amount of fritillaria bulbs she dried exceeded Gu Boyuan's expectations, so Li Long would definitely not interfere with her plans.

Sensing Li Long's attitude towards her, Tie Lanhua smiled, then walked forward, supporting her belly.

As Jia Tianlong drove his car into the backyard, he came face to face with the iron orchid. He paused for a moment, glanced at the iron orchid's retreating figure as he got out of the car, and then came over to ask Li Long:
"Old Li, who is this...?"

“The wife of one of my shop workers has nothing to do. The fritillaria bulbs I receive are not very clean, so I'll have her help wash them.”

"Pregnant?"

“Yes, we got married in early winter last year,” Li Long said. “She got pregnant this year.”

"Old Li, I think you're a man with great fortune!" Jia Tianlong suddenly said with a look of admiration. "Look at you, you just casually picked someone up, and they got married right here. The following year, she got pregnant. Isn't that incredibly lucky..."

Li Long was taken aback for a moment, then asked in return, "Isn't this normal?"

"Old Li, don't you feel guilty saying that? Is it normal?" Jia Tianlong pointed to his chest and said, "Is this normal?"

Li Long took two steps back. Jia Tianlong was so excited that his spittle was flying everywhere. Li Long didn't want to get infected by the spittle, so he said uncertainly, "Isn't this... abnormal?"

He thought it was pretty normal. It seemed like most of the people around him were married and had children, like Tao Daqiang and this Sun Jiaqiang.

“Because they’re following you, you feel normal.” Jia Tianlong pointed to Li Long’s courtyard and said, “Tell me yourself, is that jade normal? It’s too mystical…”

Li Long thought to himself, "That's because I'm good to the villagers of Qingshuihe, that's why they sent it to me."

Don't talk about great fortune; it's about how I can bring benefits to others and help them live a good life, and they will naturally give back to me.

However, he couldn't say that, as he sensed that Jia Tianlong was already obsessed with that piece of jade.

If it weren't for the fact that the jade was a gift from Meng Hai and his group, Li Long thought he might as well sell it to Jia Tianlong, since Jia Tianlong wasn't short of money anyway.

But if it's a gift, you can't just give it away casually.

"Come, come, let's look at the fritillaria first." Li Long changed the subject, afraid that Jia Tianlong would say he was a charlatan if he kept talking.

"Well, let me see."

"Let me show you something." Li Long opened the three bags of top-grade goods for Jia Tianlong to see. "See? You usually can't find fritillaria bulbs like this, right?"

"Hey! This isn't fake, is it?" Jia Tianlong was also quite surprised. "Such a big one, and in such good condition?"

“These were specially selected. Take a look. Isn’t it worth 100 yuan per kilogram?” Li Long asked proudly.

"It's worth it, definitely worth it!" Jia Tianlong reached down and pulled out a handful of fritillaria bulbs. He checked that they were all of the same quality and said hurriedly.

"No need for all that trouble. Here, pour it into the sieve and let's see." Li Long poured a bag of fritillaria bulbs into the sieve. Although Jia Tianlong said it was worthwhile, he still looked at it carefully.

They were all about the size of a little finger's egg, and each one looked very beautiful.

Li Long threw down the bag, rummaged through it with his hand to show Jia Tianlong: "How is it?"

"This!" Jia Tianlong gave a thumbs up. "How much is it in total? Are these the only three bags?"

"What? Still not enough? Be content! You've already done pretty well by picking out these three bags." Li Long didn't expect Jia Tianlong to be so ungrateful, actually wanting more.

"Enough, enough, enough!" Jia Tianlong grinned from ear to ear as he looked at the premium mother-of-pearl. "But we still have some regular stock."

Li Long ignored his comment and poured the other two bags of fritillaria bulbs onto the iron sieve, letting Jia Tianlong see for himself.

“After deducting the five kilograms of weight from the iron sieve, this top-grade fritillaria weighs a total of 241 kilograms. At 100 yuan per kilogram, that's 24,100 yuan.” Jia Tianlong was very satisfied and directed the people to repackage it.

"Let's look at the others next." Li Long also found a notebook, wrote down the numbers, had Jia Tianlong sign them, and then continued.

"Two thousand two hundred and seventeen kilograms of premium grade one fritillaria bulbs, at ninety yuan per kilogram, totaling nineteen hundred and ninety-nine thousand five hundred and thirty yuan." Jia Tianlong finished pressing the calculator and reported the amount to Li Long.

Li Long has finished the mental calculation, that's right.

Jia Tianlong directed his men to load the goods, while he and Li Long carried large leather suitcases to the reception room to hand over the money.

Two hundred thousand yuan is no small sum; it's all in US dollars, so counting it is quite a task.

Fortunately, counterfeit money was not easy to make at that time, and the ten-yuan note was relatively easy to identify. Li Long looked very shrewd and even took the leather suitcase after counting it.

Jia Tianlong had 250,000 yuan in cash on hand, and the rest could fit in his black leather bag.

Li Long zipped up the suitcase and said with a smile, "Recently, we've mainly been collecting fritillaria and wild mushrooms. Once you take the fritillaria, the rest of the wild mushrooms will be waiting for Boss Huang Lei."

Last time Jia Tianlong and Huang Lei were together, Li Long believed that the two of them must have talked.

"I'm afraid Boss Huang won't be able to make it," Jia Tianlong said upon hearing this. "You didn't know?"

Li Long asked, "What's wrong? I don't know!"

“I called him when I came here a while ago, wanting to come with him so we could look out for each other. He said he couldn’t come because someone had a problem eating the dried mushrooms he sells; they say they’re poisonous and he’s investigating.”

Seeing Li Long's expression change, he immediately said, "Old Li, I believe you definitely wouldn't sell poisonous mushrooms. He's definitely not buying from just one place, so the investigation shouldn't trace it back to you."

Li Long nodded slowly upon hearing this.

When harvesting mushrooms, Li Long specifically instructed Gu Boyuan and Sun Jiaqiang to only accept morel mushrooms, black tiger paw mushrooms, and straw mushrooms. Morel mushrooms cannot be faked, and neither can black tiger paw mushrooms.

Straw mushrooms are easy to identify when whole, but they become less noticeable when sliced.

Fortunately, Gu Boyuan and Sun Jiaqiang observed it for a while and were able to tell the difference. This thing isn't something that can be easily faked. After all, it's only worth a dollar or two, so it's not worth the trouble.

Therefore, Li Long was basically certain that the poisonous mushrooms that caused the problem were not sold by him. After seeing Jia Tianlong off, Li Long put the money in the jeep and then took Gu Boyuan to eat—it was already past lunchtime.

When they went back for dinner, Li Long told Gu Boyuan about the poisonous mushrooms Huang Lei had mentioned.

"It's definitely not from our area," Gu Boyuan said confidently. "The dried mushrooms we collect are all inspected. We check and sieve them before selling them. How could there be a problem?"

Li Long also holds this view.

However, after he finished eating and deposited the money, he still went into the warehouse to check all the dried mushrooms he had collected.

There are over 300 kilograms of morel mushrooms, which are from the stock. According to Lao Gu, it will be difficult to get more later. There are also very few black tiger paw mushrooms left. The dozens of kilograms we received were last year's stock.

There were more straw mushrooms, over 500 kilograms, but mainly because they're not worth much.

The items totaled less than ten thousand yuan, but Li Long still checked them very carefully.

These dried mushrooms have all been sorted, and the crumbs at the bottom have been removed. According to Lao Gu, Sun Jiaqiang took the slightly larger pieces home to make soup.

It's not broken, just a little broken, which actually makes it more flavorful.

Li Long also checked each bag of straw mushrooms and found nothing wrong, which put his mind at ease.

Because of Huang Lei's incident, Li Long once considered simply stopping the purchase of dried wild mushrooms, but then thought it was inappropriate. Purchasing dried wild mushrooms wasn't just about making money for him; many other people relied on it for their livelihood.

If he stops buying them, many people won't know where to sell them, since not every purchasing station will accept them.

Then let's continue to accept them, but we need to strengthen inspections and tighten quality standards.

Two days later, while Li Long, Gu Boyuan, and Sun Jiaqiang were busy at the purchasing station, an uninvited guest arrived.

Two women carrying bags arrived at the purchasing station, specifically asking to see Li Long.

Upon seeing the newcomers, Li Long immediately guessed their purpose—mainly because one of the women looked quite similar to Huang Lei, but he couldn't be sure.

"What brings you here?" Li Long asked as he ushered them into the reception room and poured them water.

"I'm buying dried mushrooms," the woman who looked like Huang Lei said. "Huang Lei is my brother. He's in trouble right now and can't come, so he asked me to come and buy them for him... Do you know there's something wrong with your mushrooms?"

Li Long shook his head and said, "Your brother got caught up in the poisonous mushroom issue, right? But let me tell you, our mushrooms are fine. Your brother doesn't just buy mushrooms from my place. I'm sorry there was a problem, but I can guarantee it's not my fault—your brother definitely knows that, otherwise he wouldn't have sent you—but how can you prove Huang Lei is your brother?"

The woman was arrogant and impatient from the start, and she directly put her hat on Li Long's head. Li Long was not going to tolerate her.

"What do you mean?" The woman became angry upon hearing Li Long's words. "Would anyone else know about my brother's affairs?"

“It’s no secret that your brother buys mushrooms here.” Li Long shook his head. “When he first came here, he already had competitors. They had him completely under their thumb. If it weren’t for a friend’s introduction, he would never have been able to get started. Don’t keep this kind of common information a secret.”

"My name is Huang Ying!" The woman had no choice but to produce evidence. "Look, this is a letter of introduction. Now you should believe me, right?"

“Come on, since you say Huang Lei is your brother, then give him a call,” Li Long said. “Huang Lei and I have a good business relationship, and I don’t want to lose my integrity because of a carelessness.”

Li Long's request seemed normal to him, but Huang Ying was a little angry. However, she had only come on a mission to buy dried mushrooms, and the initiative was in Li Long's hands, so there was nothing she could do.

When I called, they told me to wait, and they'd call me back after they got someone over. So I just hung up and waited.

Five or six minutes later, Huang Lei called. After saying a few words, Huang Ying angrily handed the phone to Li Long.

"Mr. Li, I'm sorry, this matter is quite complicated. Otherwise, I would have gone there myself."

"Is it a big deal?" Li Long asked with concern.

Although Li Long disliked Huang Ying's willful nature, he thought Huang Lei was a decent person, so he still cared about him quite a bit.

"It's not a big problem," Huang Lei said. "Although it's said that the person who was poisoned by the dried wild mushrooms I sold, firstly, the person is still being treated and hasn't died, and secondly, there's no conclusive evidence. Actually, I'm pretty sure that these weren't the dried mushrooms I sold, so we're just trying our best to investigate now."

My cousin is helping me out here, and since I can't leave, I had to ask her to go pick up the goods. She doesn't know the whole story, and she has a bit of a temper, so please bear with her.

Li Long thought to himself that he had already learned his lesson.

Since Huang Lei had nothing else to do, Li Long hung up the phone and then talked to Huang Ying about the wild mushrooms.

Huang Ying proposed lowering the price because the mushrooms were suspected of being poisonous, which had affected business there.

Li Long wouldn't tolerate her, and said directly:
"I have no trouble selling my dried wild mushrooms. If you want to buy them, pay the original price your brother quoted. If you don't want to buy them, please leave."

There was absolutely no room for negotiation.

To be honest, Huang Ying is quite pretty, and the girl next to her is about the same. Perhaps because she is pretty, Huang Ying usually receives preferential treatment when doing things, otherwise she wouldn't have developed her current personality.

However, Li Long didn't indulge her, nor was there any need to. After all, business rules couldn't be broken—and he believed Huang Lei would definitely break the deadlock, so the price wouldn't be lowered.

Huang Ying was indeed very angry, but anger aside, she still had to take the goods back.

Li Long felt that given her temper, after being rejected two or three times, she should have just stood up and left.

However, the girl advised Huang Ying a few words, basically telling her to listen to her brother and not to act impulsively. Although Huang Ying was still angry, she didn't slam the table and leave, but instead asked to see the goods.

This wasn't an unreasonable request, so Li Long agreed.

What Li Long didn't know was that after Huang Ying arrived, she went to several other places first. She had been sent here by Huang Lei as soon as the poisonous mushroom incident came out, so she wasn't clear about the situation. She only thought that because Huang Lei had bought the most mushrooms from Li Long, it was most likely that Li Long had poisonous mushrooms there.

So she thought about switching suppliers. Wouldn't it be safer to find another supplier in northern Xinjiang that provides high-grade dried wild mushrooms?
Unfortunately, after visiting many places, I found that these purchasing stations all had one thing in common: they had dried wild mushrooms if you asked. But as for how much, the most they could give was no more than 100 kilograms—which is actually quite a lot. This stuff is dried goods and doesn't take up much weight; a dozen kilograms makes a large bag.

It can't be squeezed or pressed down; it takes up a lot of space.

But Huang Lei always collects hundreds of kilograms or even tons at a time, and Huang Ying really doesn't care about less than 100 kilograms, so in the end she can only come to Li Long.

None of the strategies they had devised before coming were of any use. Li Long completely ignored her—it was a seller's market; there was no shortage of buyers, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Li Long took out several bags of dried mushrooms from the warehouse and let the two women inspect them.

Huang Ying was still worried about Li Long's suggestion, so she went to the warehouse and grabbed a few more bags at random.

Li Long placed the large sieve on the scale and asked her to pour the dried wild mushrooms onto the sieve to check.

Huang Ying poured out a bag as instructed and looked at the dried morel mushrooms that came out. Although she had a prejudice against Li Long, she was quite satisfied with the morel mushrooms, which had their roots cut off, were free of any debris or dirt.

With such quality, it was incomparable to the other places she had visited before. Only then did she become somewhat convinced. No wonder her cousin insisted on coming over here to collect the dried mushrooms, even though he had other commitments over there.

To be honest, if we delay and let someone else collect these dried mushrooms, they will definitely regret it—you won't be able to find dried mushrooms that are cleaned so thoroughly anywhere else.

There's hardly any debris left; the standards for cleaning this must have been incredibly high!

Huang Ying poured out two more bags of dried mushrooms and looked at them. Whether they were morels or straw mushrooms, they were all equally beautiful. She finally accepted it.

"Mr. Li, let's go with the price my brother mentioned earlier. Come on, let's calculate it." Huang Ying herself didn't realize that she had become much more amiable when speaking to Li Long, and there was even a smile on her lips!
P.S.: I video-chatted with my family today, and my grandfather said that because the land has been contracted out, the old fishermen in the village (who are about the same age as Li Long) have all bought small boats, some rubber and some plastic, powered by motors, to catch fish at the Dahai Lake in the story. Yesterday, someone even caught a big carp weighing five or six kilograms, and there was also a pike weighing more than two kilograms. Hey, I want to go back!

(End of this chapter)